New Site, New Digs, New Stuff
I'm sure you've noticed we've been running a "skeleton" type product offering for the past several days. There is a reason... a good one.
We have finally grown to the size where we need our own warehouse. We were sharing 56,000 square feet with another company but we've outgrown the space we were allotted. So this week we've been moving to a brand-spankin'-new location that's 3 minutes from our offices.
During the move, I have found a lot of things that are going to work out great for all of us. I have found boxes and boxes of product that we've purchases over the past 2 years that never made it to our site. We're talking pallets and pallets of boxes. So what are we gonna do with these pallets and pallets and boxes and boxes of product? Count it and sell it... for SUPER SWEET prices.
To do this we have to change a few things. Over the past several months we've been selling Echo Park, BoBunny, My Mind's Eye and other brands on consignment. Basically we've sold the product, placed an order and shipped the stuff within 5 days. Initially it was a pretty good plan but we're going to change this. Knowing there will be some heartburn, we are doing this with reluctance but it's for the health of the company. We are going to give our customers until April 15th to check out anything BoBunny, Echo Park or My Mind's Eye. We will put in the product description, "This is a consignment items. Please check out before April 15th." In the interim, we will be counting, taking pictures of and selling the stuff that's already in our warehouse. Since it's been on our books for so long, we want to get it moving so all these items will expire on April 30th.
We've also been doing other exciting things. The first of April you will see two tabs on the front page where "Sweet or Sour" is. One tab will be for Product Reviews and the other tab will be a News Feed. Any time you post something on SweetTALK, on your profile, add a picture, etc, it will show up on the News Feed... right there on our front page! You can make comments on pictures that are posted, share how your feel and have other comment or advertise a fundraiser in your area. What's more, all of your posts on SweetTALK and other places will be stored on your profile--making it more user friendly and more interesting to others.
Additionally, we're going to create a page where you can share recipes and pictures of how-to's. Over the past several months McCall has been cooking up a storm. She's found some fantastic recipes and has even created her own chocolate cookies with a peanut butter cream frosting. She wants to share some of these with YOU, our CropChocolate.com family.
Lastly, I'm sure you've seen all the 12x12 albums move to SOLD OUT status. These have cost us tons of money. For some reason the Paperie albums are warping when we ship them. We inspect each one before it leaves our warehouse and en route, it warps. We're resent them and resent them. Over the past 2 months it's cost us $12K. So we gave over 4,000 albums to various schools in the area. The 12x12 3-Ring Bronze Albums seem to hold up just fine so if you have one of those in your la Carte, feel assured they'll get to you in tip-top shape.
Thank you for sticking it out with us. We feel like we have the most patient and understanding customers in any business. So that these issues are solved quicker and occur less, we've brought on a controller to manage our balance sheet better. After-all, I'm a marketer that loves to write, not an accountant.
Best,
Jon N.
CropChocolate.com
One sweet deal at a time
